The latest episode of
"The Good Wife" was the epitome of what we like about this show - sharp writing, strong case of the week, some personal shenanigans (Diane, we're looking at you) and outstanding guest stars.

Case of the Week

The COTW is a rather fascinating piece of litigation regarding a snowmobile accident, a head injury and a faux-National Hockey League. The plaintiff becomes the faux-NHL (APHL) when Lockhart/Gardner wants a settlement for a snowmobile accident that killed the wife of Duvernay, a former player, who was not properly diagnosed and treated for a head injury.

Michael J. Fox is back as the attorney for the APHL and Frank Michael Thomas is back as the attorney for a class-action suit against the APHL waiting in the wings. L/G's whole argument is that not only does hockey not properly treat or diagnose head injuries, they encourage fighting and the fans' interest in it.

Suddenly at the 11th hour, before L/G's big, bad neurologist witness is going to take the stand, the snowmobile company comes in with a $5 million offer for Duvernay. We had a sneaking suspicion it was APHL that paid off the snowmobile company to avoid the trial coming down against them (which would help the class-action lawsuit against them) - and that's what happened. Canning got Alicia to smoke out Frank Michael Thomas' strategy. That Louis, he's a trickster.

Lockhart/Gardner

The firm is in chaos - Will being around bugs the partners and Eli still wants him replaced. Caitlyn is gone, so they're shorthanded. And now Alicia wants a raise - and not just a small one, she wants the firm to go bigger than Louis Canning's formal offer. The equity partners are split about it, so Diane invokes managing partner prerogative and orders Alicia receive the bonus Canning was offering her.

The Homefront

In romantic entanglements, Tammy is back from London and not happy about what went down with Alicia and Will, since she and Will weren't officially over when she left. And Diane is hilariously juggling her Aussie subpoena-server and Kurt McVey.

Thoughts & Tidbits

Diane's cold reaction to Alicia's hardball, but then her unilateral decision to give Alicia what she wants was a really interesting touch to the episode. It really shows what kind of person Diane is, since she obviously doesn't want to give in to Alicia, but she knows the firm needs her to.

In that same vein, we hope Diane and Alicia's relationship doesn't get as icy as Alicia and Kalinda's has been. Their defrosting (even at this glacial pace) is nice to see - though the Tammy-realization moment with Kalinda out in the hall was just a smidge anvil-licious.

Even though it was a small moment, it was good to see some continuity with Cary being demoted after he came clean to Peter.

Diane juggling two men is rather hysterical - but our heart still belongs with Kurt McVey. We suppose it's too much to hope for that Gary Cole just becomes a series regular, right?

Overall, this was a great episode. Michael J. Fox is always a winner on this show, but also - the case of the week was interesting, it intertwined with the other plotlines really well and everything was resolved without feeling rushed. Even the deus ex machina settlement with the snowmobile company was completely "in-character," as it were. That's exactly what Louis Canning would do.